Weight room remodeled to the tune of $140 thousand

Using $120,000 in bond money and $20,000 from the Athletic Booster Club of Dexter, a $140,000 weight room remodelling had begun at Dexter High School.

“I think it was long overdue,” ABCD member Brad Hochrein said. “The size of our old weight room compared to the other schools in our district showed that we needed to expand it.”

The new weight room now includes all-new equipment including medicine balls, squat racks and enhanced air compression machines, which use compressed air in place of metal free-weights.

The renovation is an attempt to make the weight room more all-purpose, according to Athletic Director Mike Bavineau.

“The coaches and I got together, and the weight room was more of a football-type weight room,” Bavineau said. “So we wanted to make a more wide variety weight room for all sports.”

Hochrein also said the weight room needs to take in to account all sports in Dexter, not just football.

“Many sports require training in the offseason so that when the season comes, the players can perform,” Hochrein said.

But physical education teacher and former football coach Tom Barbieri–who bases a lot of class time around the weight room–said while he appreciates the changes, he wishes he was consulted more about how the new room would work.

“We have a lot more room, so it changes the class a little bit, but we will be all right,” Barbieri said. “My teaching station was being changed, and I had little input into the decision. I would have liked to have more input into the decision, but I’m OK with the changes.”

Bavineau, however, said he wanted to focus more on the athletic aspect of the new weight room and that he did talk to the gym teachers before the remodeling began.

“We wanted to focus more on the athletic approach when making the new weight room,” he said.

And Hochrein agrees with Bavineau’s approach. To him, the weight room needs to be something all sports programs and all students can benefit from.

He said, “Certainly there has been a good direction that sports programs have been taking in efforts to improve all the sports in the district.”